Tracking Slive's career through the years

Slive (right) looks over construction at Dartmouth.Photo by: Slive Family

■ Becomes assistant athletic director at Dartmouth College.

1979
■ Named assistant executive director at the Pac-10 Conference.

Slive at Cornell.Photo by: Slive Family

1981
■ Becomes AD at Cornell University.

1990
■ Founds and serves as senior partner of Slive/Glazier Sports Group with Mike Glazier.

February 1991
■ Named commissioner of the fledgling Great Midwest Conference. In May, the conference would sign a three-year television marketing agreement with Host Creative.

April 1995
■ Named commissioner of the newly formed Conference USA, made up primarily from a merger of the Metro and Great Midwest conferences.

■ ESPN and Conference USA announce a multiyear agreement granting ESPN, ESPN2 and Creative Sports exclusive rights for national broadcast work, national and regional cable, and syndication of all men’s basketball games beginning this season.

■ Liberty Sports and the conference agree on a five-year television football package.

December 2000
■ ESPN and Conference USA agree to an eight-year deal beginning with the 2001 football season and the 2001-02 basketball season. Included in the deal are football telecasts on Tuesday and/or Wednesday nights and select Thursday and Saturday games.

Slive presents the Conference USA championship trophy to the DePaul women's basketball team in 2002, the same year he would be named SEC commissioner.Photo by: Conference USA

July 2002
■ The SEC introduces Slive as the league’s seventh commissioner, replacing Roy Kramer, who is retiring after 13 years.

December 2009
■ The SEC Championship football game scores its highest rating with an 11.1.

September 2011
■ The SEC announces that Texas A&M will join the conference, effective July 1, 2012. The expansion will be the first for the league since 1992.

November 2011
■ The SEC reveals that the University of Missouri will become its 14th member institution.

May 2013

Slive scored one of his biggest deals by partnering with ESPN on the SEC Network.Photo by: SEC

■ The SEC and ESPN formally announce their partnership on a new channel.

June 2014
■ At the SEC’s spring meetings, Slive warns that the conference would be prepared to pull out of NCAA Division I and form a new NCAA division if the five power conferences don’t receive autonomy to set their own rules on certain matters. The NCAA grants that autonomy two months later.

August 2014
■ SEC Network debuts in approximately 65 million households nationwide, making it the largest network launch in cable television history.

October 2014
■ Slive announces he will retire at the conclusion of the 2014-15 academic year.

March 2015
■ The SEC names Greg Sankey its eighth commissioner. Sankey is in his 13th year as a member of the conference staff.